Fall expected to be cool: Environment Canada

Keep your sweaters on! Environment Canada’s new weather outlook calls for cool months ahead. The weather office’s three-month forecast predicts cooler than normal temperatures for the west and east coasts of Canada, and warmer than normal for much of the rest of the country. The summer on Haida Gwaii was slightly cooler than the average. July’s average daily maximum was 16.4 degrees Celsius this year and the average (based on data from 1971-2000 at the Sandspit weather station) daily maximum has been 17 degrees. The highest temperature ever recorded on the islands was in 1971 when it hit 27.8 degrees. August is on average hotter than July, with an historical maximum of 17.9 degrees. This summer the average daily maximum was only 16.8 with the hottest day 20 degrees. The hottest temperature recorded in August was 26.7 in 1952. Meanwhile, the rainfall in August was consistent with the averages, 55.5 mm for 2011 versus 57.5 mm average. As for September, many islands roads were awash with Tuesday’s heavy rainfall, predicted to amount to 50 mm for the day on northern Haida Gwaii including Masset. The average monthly rainfall for September is 83.7 mm.